Effect in Growth, Flowering and Corm Yield of Gladiolus by Different Application Methods of Biofertilizers

The current study was carried out to explore the effects of various biofertilizer applications on gladiolus growth, flower production and corms yield in Horticulture Research Farm of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara in winter season of 2022.

Ten distinct combinations of biofertilizers and their application techniques, together with control, were used in the experiment’s randomized block design, which was replicated three times. Corms were sown in the spacing 30×30 cm and treated as T₁ (Control), T₂ [RDF + Azotobacter (Corm dipping)], T₃ [RDF + Azotobacter (Soil application)], T₄ [RDF + Azotobacter (Foliar application)], T₅ [RDF + PSB (Corm dipping)], T₆ [RDF + PSB (Soil application)], T₇ [RDF + PSB (Foliar application)], T₈ [RDF + Azotobacter + PSB (Corm dipping)], T₉ [RDF + Azotobacter + PSB (Soil application)] and T₁₀ [RDF + Azotobacter +PSB (Foliar application]. The following data were recorded at different stages i.e. days required for sprouting of corms, plant height (cm), number of leaves per plant, number of Shoots per mother corm, days required for spike emergence per plot, length of spike (cm), diameter of floret (cm), number of spikes per plant, number of florets per spike, number of Spikes per hectare, number of cormels per plant, number of corms per plant, diameter of corm (cm), Wt. of corms per plant (g), Wt. of cormels/plant (g) and yield of corms (q/ha).

Among all the 10 treatments given treatment T₈, which consisted of RDF + Azotobacter + PSB and was used as a soil application, was found to be superior, implying that biofertilizers can improve nutrient availability and absorption, which resulted in improved gladiolus plant growth, blooming, yield, quality and yield.